The Cuban – A Flavourless Interpretation of Cuban Cuisine

Camden has a special place in my heart and although now taken over by tourists, it’s still a place I venture regularly and proud to re-visit with out-of-towners.

It wasn’t long before venturing amongst the Stables market, I started to notice The Cuban bar and restaurant and one late weekday evening a group of friends and I, took the plunge.

The Cuban seems to get busy on an evening serving an extensive list of food and cocktails from the drinks menu but if you stay long enough, you may start to notice the place showing signs of wear and tear and drastically needs updating.

Nachos Rancheros with Chorizo

We ordered nachos rancheros and for an extra cost, chose to have chorizo. The nachos were overly salty and the only stand out ingredient was the chorizo. There certainly wasn’t enough guacamole, jalapenos, salsa and most crucially, cheese.

Pan-fried Tiger Prawns

The next starter we chose to share were the pan-fried prawns which sadly hadn’t been pre-marinated which left the prawns flavourless, chewy and overall disappointing.

Ropa Pobre con Congri

The most disastrous of the food was the ‘Ropa Pobre con Congri’ or shredded beef, slow cooked with tomatoes, mixed peppers & onions which was served with steamed rice with peppers, jalapeños & black beans.

The rice served with black beans was dry, tasting as though it had been reheated rather than freshly cooked and there was also no spicy heat from the jalapenos. The shredded beef dish fared no better and again had no spicy heat and hadn’t been slow cooked long enough leaving the beef stringy, bland and painstakingly boring.

The Cuban was altogether an insult to Cuban cuisine, with no spicing or flavouring amongst any of the dishes and maybe should stick to just being a bar…